SA set to shine at African app awards

Oct 31, 2016

South African mobile innovation features strongly in the line-up of finalists for the AppsAfrica.com Innovation Awards 2016.
Local companies Abalobi, Alpha Exchange, Celstra, Domestly, PeliChat, Standard Bank, VoucherCloud SA, Vodacom, Vula Mobile and Xander Apps are all in the running to be named as award category winners at the AppsAfrica.com awards dinner to be held in Cape Town on 14 November 2016.
“South Africa’s status as the continent’s most developed mobile market with 130% cellular penetration is no guarantee for local wireless application service providers (WASPs) to be included in the AppsAfrica.com Innovation Awards,” says Mike Laws, acting MD of VoucherCloud SA.
“The entire African continent is bursting with the kind of innovation that comes from over 50 countries and territories teeming with the creativity of tens of millions of human beings.”
Laws is a mobile industry veteran often called upon to consultant on African mobile marketing commercialisation strategies. Proof of his sentiment can be found in the fact that this year’s awards attracted an impressive 200 submissions from 25 African countries.
Supported by Uber, Opera, Mobile Monday South Africa (MOMO), the Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF) and the MMA the Awards provide winners with global publicity, recognition and networking with 300+ industry peers at the upcoming awards event in Cape Town. They seek to highlight the positive impact of home-grown African mobile content and applications across 10 categories.
The 10 awards to be conferred in Cape Town are: Disruptive Innovation Award, Best Social & Messaging Award, Best African App Award, Enterprise Solution Award, News & Entertainment Award, Educational Award, Fintech Award, Social Impact Award, Brand on Mobile Award and the Women in Tech Award.
The awards celebrate the enormous growth in mobile, technology and entrepreneurship in Africa. “App development is the next mobile frontier and is the stand-out favorite to boost average revenue per user,” says Laws.